A blog about the Big Four of the English Premier League

Rooney vs Torres

Now that all the dust has settled from Sunday’s game (especially at the spot where the petulant Spaniard dug up the penalty spot at Old Trafford), it’s time for a more objective view of the whole game, and more importantly, at two of the Premier League’s best-rated strikers.

What is different?

Note that in the above sentence I’ve used two terms specifically to make my point – ‘Premier League’ and ‘best-rated’. The first in obvious deference to a certain dimunitive Argentinian called Lionel (tee hee, poor Arsenal) and the second in deference to those of you who swear by numbers and/or results and can come up with Drogba and (God forbid!) Tevez. And yet, it is somehow given that these two are the best strikers in the business and that clearly has to do with more than just the goals scored or games won. Of course it’s the ability to be game-changers, and that’s not quantifiable. However, I also suspect that it’s something to do with this whole perception of ‘single-handedness’.

The talks have already started about how Rooney is the obviousest (if there were more ways to emphasise that word, I would) choice for the End of the Year awards for this season. And the reason? He has “single-handedly” pulled United to the top of the Premier League summit this year. If nothing else, that’s insulting to the likes of Valencia who has been an absolute revelation on the right, VDS who has made us all thank the lord that Ben Foster is not our No.1, Ji-Sung Park who has just given the term underrated a whole new meaning, and the class of ’99 – Giggsy, Scholesy and Gary Nev – who have shown all the over-priced mercenaries around the world how it’s done. AND what loyalty is.

The opinion that is correct and should be held, is that without Rooney, none of this would be possible, and I agree. But he is in the team and he has done all of this, so there really is no point theorizing what it would be like without him. We lost two of the ‘Fab Four’ from last season, we seem to have done just fine. Roon’s not gone ahead and become all of those 4. He has probably become 1.5 of the 4, and all those others mentioned above have made up the remaining 2.5. And this was the fact that was really on evidence at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Playing as a lone striker, Torres had all the opportunity to take up the tag “single-handedly” once again against his favourite opponents on his seemingly-favourite away stadium. However, this was not the Liverpool of last season, which had an eye on the title when they visited Old Trafford and had Gerrard and Torres playing together for a while. This was a Liverpool which had sold Xabi Alonso, had sold Arbeloa and couldn’t start the only guy who qualifies as their left-winger cos he had slagged off the manager. Maxi Rodriguez, their solution to that problem. Laughable. After the pre-5 minute slipup from our back 4 which let Kuyt in and gave Torres and Liverpool that dream start, Kuyt also disappeared from the game’s radar. Leaving Torres with a so-far-unseen pained look on his face for the next 80 minutes of the game.

United at the other end, were constantly pressing, especially in the second half. Fletcher’s arrow-straight run right into the Liverpool box was a constant distraction, leaving no one to pick out Park for the duration of the match, and most importantly for the goal. Valencia against Insua was a no-contest, while Johnson played himself into a soup against Nani more than once and needed some kind refereeing from Mr. Webb to save him (it’s not that tough to photoshop jerseys on to people. It’s tougher to actually acknowledge the FACHTS). And Rooney himself, coming deep into our own half to collect the ball when we were defending before picking out a pass to a forward player. In stark contrast was Torres, staying above the half-line irrespective of whether Liverpool were attacking or defending, and watching frustratedly at the ball just not getting to him.

I am willing to acknowledge that Torres has managed to make us fear him. Whenever he got the ball (and I think it was a total of three times in the second half), I feared for Vida and Rio. It helped us that he seemed to be playing more from our left, Evra is the only one who can match him for pace in that back four – which he did and put in a brilliant tackle in one of those three forays by Torres. But as the game progressed and we’d taken the lead, the composure was evident in our back four and the shileding 2 in front. Carrick seemingly nullified both Gerrard and Masch, leaving Fletcher free to deliver the match-winning cross. Or Stevie Me was just having a bad day, which seems to be a recurring theme this season come to think of it. Once these two were cut out of the game, Liverpool never really had a chance.

Therefore, the pertinent question here is not what this post has been titled. It’s more about Rooney & Co. vs Torres & Co. And what showed up in stark contrast on Sunday is that Liverpool’s “& Co.” is simply unavailable. Torres was signed by Liverpool the same season we signed Anderson and Nani. I can only think of Sir Alex imgining if he’d done the swap and forged a Rooney-Torres partnership for United. Even so, Fergie imagining that is fine. Liverpool’s real worry now, is if Torres is imagining it as well…

But, drogba is a match-winner da.. Excellent hold-up play, good in the box, quick on the field, and unbelievably good theatrical skills.. It should be a tough fight between those three for the position of best striker in the premier league..

regarding where torres will go – no way pool will sell to utd.. They’ll do a reverse of what we did with heinze..
No way he’ll go to real madrid.. i guess his loyalty to atletico is too strong.. But again, michael owen…
Barca might be delightful.. Maybe, they could exchange him for someone liike bojan?
By the way, espnstar has an article on juve being interested in benitez, masch and torres (the full set!) if they (juve) make it to the champions league (and pool don’t)..
Should be interesting…

@abhinav : i guess ducky refers to them as batch of ’99 coz they put the treble then… That’s when they came of age?

Ducky, Torres & co refers to only Torres and Gerrard. Kuyt is a better than a midfielder. It worked well last season.

Considering that liverpool will surely not make it to CL next year, the Juve scoop seems likely. and if Benitez leaves, a certain Jose mourinho might be really interested in the job (since he would have won everything with inter by then) and like he always does, he might bring along his cavalry with him.

Rooney and Torres can play good for any team + They are not “form-players” like Drogba. Dog’s bra is Good but just bcoz he is scoring goals for chelsea doesnt mean he will score goals for any club he plays for. Drogba fits best in the way Chelsea plays , where you have a plethora of national team starters and highly rated players trying to pass the ball to you at every small opportunity. Kalou plays somewhat better than Drogba in Ivory coast’s team format. So, the only point I am trying to make is Rooney and Torres are much better than Drogba.

P.S–Wazza’s and el-nino’s place in the starting eleven doesnt depend on the team’s manager 😛

“can come up with Drogba and (God forbid!) Tevez. And yet, it is somehow given that these two are the best strikers in the business and that clearly has to do with more than just the goals scored or games won”